Reggie does not, in fact, take that advice.
He’s nervous, and it shows—especially after the Lions score on that first turnover.
It gets worse from there.
The best we can do is a few field goals, and our season is over with a shitty final score of thirty-four to nine.
I showed up. I did my job.
But it wasn’t enough.
Disappointment lances through me. If we just would’ve had Grant Landry here today instead of injured on the sidelines, we might’ve had a chance.
I can’t blame the loss entirely on Reggie. It’s a team effort.
But we sure could’ve used Grant’s quick thinking today instead of Reggie’s butterfingers.
Coach Wilder tried our third-string quarterback in the second half, and he’s the one that got us close enough to try for field goals. He’s the reason we weren’t shut out.
It was too little, too late.
The locker room is quiet.
I imagine Coach will be taking a harder look at the quarterbacks coming up in this year’s draft since our backup turned out to be a dud.
He gives us some platitudes about how we came together as a team, about how we can start looking forward to next season, about how we should be proud of the effort we gave in the face of so many obstacles. It’s all a bunch of bullshit. The truth is that our season is over now.
The bus ride to the airport is quiet.
The flight home is even quieter.
We head our separate ways. Tomorrow will be for cleaning out lockers and saying goodbyes and tackling the exit process, including interviews with Coach Matthews, Coach Wilder, and our general manager, Richard Ellery.
And that’ll be it. I’ll have a longer break than I did last year when we made it to the conference championship. That was one game away from the big one, and we lost it.
It felt like more of a heartbreak to lose that one than today’s game, which we were expected to lose.
Or maybe it’s the fact that this year, I have someone waiting at home. I’m not going home to an empty condo to stare out over the view for the next six months.
And right now, I can’t wait to get home to my wife.
CHAPTER 40: Tatum Barker
Branding
The Beasts take off on their team plane shortly after the game, and I’m waiting at the airport for my flight that keeps getting delayed due to inclement weather.
I’m exhausted. I just want to be home, but I still have a three-hour flight once we finally board.
I sit near an outlet so I can plug my phone in since I’m draining the battery doing my best to level up in Subway Surfers. I should download a movie or something, but I didn’t think I’d be sitting at the airport this long.
A text comes through a little after ten.
Ford:Just landed.
Me:Haven’t even boarded yet.
Ford:You haven’t?
